Many types of electrical equipment contain IC devices which are vulnerable to damage from high voltage transients.
For example, in a television receiver, containing IC's for video and audio signal processing, the anode of the image producing kinescope is typically biased at a high potential, e.g., 25,000 volts. High voltage transients are produced by kinescope arcing which occurs when the high voltage anode of the kinescope is rapidly discharged. Kinescope arcing can also occur unpredictably between the anode and one or more of the other lower potential electrodes of the kinescope when the television receiver is in normal operation. In either case, kinescope arcing results in high voltage transients having positive and negative peaks often in excess of 100 volts at the IC terminals and lasting from one to several microseconds.
Another cause of high voltage transients in a television receiver is electrostatic discharge. A build-up of electrostatic charge may be discharged by the user through the television receiver controls thereby producing a high voltage transient which can damage IC's in the television receiver.